Defensive Driving Class

Or, what a way to spend a Saturday morning.......

I had to attend a Defensive Driving Class this morning - of course, not by choice, but because back in December, I received a speeding ticket while driving Erica from her violin recital back home so that I could get Brian's things to go to a birthday party. My first ticket as well. Oh, and I didn't have my license on me and didn't realize that it is the Law in Illinois which requires you to have it on your person. I really think that if I had my license on me, I would have been let off with a warning, because the officer didn't ticket me for that......

Well, since this was my first ticket, Illinois has this program where you can have the ticket taken off your record if you attend a defensive driving class and don't receive another ticket in 6 months. I didn't want my insurance rates to go up, so off to school I went this morning.

First, the class is from 0800 - 1200. And it is 1 degree outside - with the wind chill it is minus 17! Needless to say, I really didn't want to go, but I had already paid for the class, and this is just one of those "just do it" things. What amazed me were the other people (or should I say - teenagers) in the class. More than half of the students were 16 or 17, and many were there because they had their license suspended and they had to take the class as part of getting their license back. Oh yeah, some of the students had already been there at least once, as the instructor knew them! Ai-Ya! I think the minimum age for a license should be raised to 17 - too many inexperienced drivers out there and a lot of distractions for those kids. When I grew up, I can only recall one teenage death related to driving during my HS years, and now there seem to be so many more.

Well, the class wasn't too painful, and it's done now. Hopefully, I can go another 21 years (or more) of driving before getting another ticket......